My first trip to Brooklyn to see a show, and it was pretty spectacular. Warsaw (the Polish National House) is like a traditional VFW or firehouse, and it’s located in a nice little neighborhood in Brooklyn (so it seemed) which reminded me of Port Richmond in Philadelphia.

Paulson opened the show; my only experience with these guys was Thursday’s secret show in Asbury Park a year ago, and I had been meaning to listen to their stuff more, but never got around to it. Luckily, I did have their album, so I gave it a few spins before the show, and I decided Window Frames was my favorite song on the first few listens, and they happened to play it live. I recommend the song to anyone who hasn’t head this band. They played well, despite having one of the most awkward stage presences I’ve ever seen. A solid opening act for sure.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You followed, and, unfortunately, it was the wrong venue for them since Warsaw doesn’t allow dancing/moshing/pushing/etc. The band really feeds off the energy of the crowd though, and they played quite well. It was very awkward to listen to a hardcore band (especially one so mixed with metal/grind elements) in that environment, but I’m sure they must be quite stellar in a better environment. There were five or six fans really into #12, and the band even let them sing from time to time, throwing the mic into the crowd. Definitely an interesting band, but if you don’t like the style, I’d imagine you wanted to throwup through their set. I’d like to see them at a hardcore festival in the proper environment. They played well.

Thursday was the real reason I ventured out to the Bronx, and they most certainly did not disappoint. I’ve always said Thursday sounds best on their off-tour dates, and this proved true tonight. It may have been how close I was to the stage (the venue wasn’t “packed tight”, but I imagine that its fire restrictions) and how the pushing was quite manageable, but this is one of my favorite Thursday shows in recent memory. The energy was incredible, and the setlist was very solid. Fourteen songs (a solid amount from Thursday), consisting of four Full Collapse, four War All The Time, five A City By The Light Divided, and Jet Black New Year. I think this order is correct; they really lumped all the singles together in the middle of the set.

For The Workforce, Drowning
The Otherside Of th Crash/Over And Out (Of Control)
Understanding In A Car Crash
Signals Over The Air
Counting 5-4-3-2-1
At This Velocity
Division St.
Into The Blinding Light
Jet Black New Year
This Song Brought To You By A Falling Bomb
Cross Out The Eyes
Autobiography Of A Nation
Concealer
Autumn Leaves Revisited

I didn’t expect them to open with Workforce; a pretty standard setlist, with Falling Bomb, Concealer, and Autobiography Of A Nation being “rare” songs tossed into the mix (presumably in place of songs like Paris In Flames, How Long Is The Night?, Sugar In The Sacrament, The Lovesong Writer). I really had hoped they would play Concealer tonight, after doing a great job with it in Hoboken in December (they haven’t played this song other than these two nights in….years). It’s probably one of my favorite Thursday songs due to its raw aggression and emotion. It’s even better live, Geoff and the band really pour their souls into some songs–and this is one of them.

In place of a pit due to Warsaw’s restrictions, Geoff just encouraged everyone to hop the barrier and rush towards the stage, filling in the barrier. Security wasn’t happy about this, but it was nice and reminded me of older days when I used to see the band without any barriers. He wanted to do the wall of death (ala Sick of It All, and bands before them, obviously) for Into The Blinding Light–like usually–but Warsaw just wouldn’t have it.

Geoff expressed disgust with the state of popular rock music, talking about how bands that are so lucky to get the spotlight to share their songs with the world “don’t say anything [important]”. He encouraged anyone in a band to be sure to have something meaningful to say when you write a song, before kicking into Counting 5-4-3-2-1, a song he said the label hoped would make them huge.

Thursday played very well, and I was very pleased with the set list. I wish them the best of luck opening for My Chemical Romance in a few days, I hope they reach a new audience.